INITIATIVE TO REVISE COMMERCIAL PROPERTY TAX MOVES FORWARD

Photo: Disneyland and Universal Studios are among the large companies that benefit from California's Prop 13, paying pre-1978 tax rates on some of their properties. (Wikimedia Commons)

August 17, 2018 (Sacramento) - Backers of commercial property tax reform have just submitted 860,000 signatures to county registrars for an initiative on the November 2020 ballot.

The "Schools and Communities First" ballot measure would require commercial property owners who benefit from Prop 13's property tax freeze in 1978 to start paying taxes based on the property's current fair market value, rather than what it was worth 40 years ago. Joshua Pechthalt, president of California Federation of Teachers, said the measure would raise another $11 billion a year - a good chunk of which could be used to improve schools.

"California is the fifth-largest economy in the world, and yet we're ranked something like 45th in terms of per-pupil spending and class-size average,” Pechthalt said. “And our kids deserve to be treated better than that."

A coalition of almost 300 community groups supports the proposal, which would not affect Prop 13 protections for homeowners, renters, small businesses or agriculture. Anti-tax groups say it would make California significantly less business-friendly and cause job losses.

Pechthalt pointed out that most other states assess commercial and industrial property in this way, and he thinks the proposal would bring fairness back to California's tax system.

Corporations that have owned large tracts of land since the 1970s - like Chevron, Bank of America, Disneyland and Universal Studios - would be most affected by the change. To qualify for the ballot, the group needs just over 548,000 signatures to be verified, out of the 860,000 submitted.

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers..The greedy, corrupt democrats never fail to find ways to steal money . These companies pay a lot of money back into the state and give people jobs. They will leave.
And if you think once they pull this off that they will not go after the homeowners with Prop 13 protection next, you are as ignorant as they are.
Hey Joshua Pechthalt, why don't you go after the State of Calif Lottery people who lied about the money that the schools were supposed to get from the lottery.
California: Illinois East!